Sage Sherlock
May 8, 2025
For years now I have been hearing murmurings about an event that transforms our beloved Tangent Gallery into an intergalactic replica of one of the biggest movie franchises, Star Wars. Personally, I know very little about Star Wars. I watched it when I was a child with my Father and went to Disneyland where I thought I enjoyed Star Wars themed rides in Tomorrowland. After calling my Dad, it turns out they were just Star Wars influenced. Disney didn’t buy Star Wars until 2012. Regardless, Tomorrowland blew my mind with set decorations and my mind was equally blown away with the transformation of Tangent Gallery into Tatooine and the general Star Wars universe. You don’t need to be hyper-informed about Star Wars to enjoy Space Dive. The mandatory costumes, the mercantile market with all Star Wars related handcrafted items, and the themed drinks and grub is a feast for the senses!
The community that this annual party of 12 years creates is a really beautiful and human thing. All of the volunteers that help with build-out create community. All of the folks that attend, dressed as spaceport visitors, “roughnecks,” straight up aliens, soldiers, or classic characters like Chewbaca and StormTroopers, they all create community during the two weekend long party. There is magic in the way attendees interact with each other and perform their shticks. They create a space where people feel safe to be playful and present with each other. To play without fear of being judged is quite a healing feeling that most adults don’t get to experience too often. For children this is much more common, they get their chance to play during Family Day on Saturday where Space Dive cooks up a whole slew of family-friendly activities.
It seems the perfect recipe for a community-building party that creates purpose is 1) have a theme, 2) build a space that involves people getting together to share their skills, 3) create games and interactions that pertain to the theme for attendees to play, 4) have mandatory costumes so people put in effort leading up to the event, building excitement and engagement, and 5) continue the party over time so people can come back to the space and have the same creative process. It’s almost like creating a holiday! I’ve seen this happen in many different communities across the country and Space Dive has definitely nailed it.
Special thanks to Brett Carson, John Dunivant, Daniel Land, Joe Grignano, and Colin Wilson for creating and propelling this event for us all to enjoy.